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No jail for identity theft - 10 counts dismissed

NEWPORT CITY – A Lowell woman will not serve any time for using stolen credit card numbers she obtained while working at CRMI.Tuesday, Jan. 10, Anna Quesnel, 22, entered guilty pleas to two felony charges of identity theft and one misdemeanor charge of false pretenses.Judge Robert Bent handed down a two-year deferred sentence on the felonies, which means that if Quesnel successfully completes the deferred sentence without a further conviction, the charges will be wiped from her record. If not, she faces up to 3 years incarceration and/or a $5,000 fine on each count. On the misdemeanor charge, the judge sentenced her to serve 6-12 months, all suspended, with 120 hours of community service.The state dropped 10 additional charges of felony identify theft.Dec. 22, 2010, Newport City Police Officer Gary Fournier responded to CRMI Solutions, known by some as the Call Center, for a report that an employee had used customers’ credit card numbers without permission. A long and intensive investigation showed that Quesnel obtained the numbers and made numerous purchases after customers placed orders through her.James Walsh of CRMI told Fournier that he didn’t believe any other employees were involved with the fraudulent orders. One of the victims, who lives in Poplar Bluff, MO, told Fournier that her credit card had a $193.63 charge to Vermont Electric Co-Op. A VEC representative said the charge was for a customer who lives in Lowell.Fournier contacted Quesnel and asked her to come to the police department and bring anything she purchased with the stolen credit card numbers as well as the papers that she had written the numbers on. Quesnel said she had thrown the papers away when her parents found out what she had done. Quesnel brought four or five bags that contained numerous items purchased with the stolen numbers. Quesnel told Fournier she could not get all of the items back because she had given some away as gifts. Quesnel initially told Fournier and Officer George Butler that a friend gave her the numbers, but when police showed Quesnel the screen shots from her computer, Quesnel admitted to writing the numbers down herself and using them without permission.Quesnel said the VEC charge paid her sister’s electric bill and her sister didn’t know the numbers were stolen.A VEC representative told Fournier that someone paid the bill with a stolen credit card and that he should talk to Officer Cochran at the Morristown Police Department because Cochran was investigating a completely different credit card fraud case in which someone paid another power bill at the same address with a stolen credit card number. Cochran told Fournier that Quesnel had been cited for using a stolen credit card number that belonged to a victim in Delmar, MD. Fournier contacted CRMI who confirmed the victim had placed an order with Quesnel on Nov. 21, 2010.A representative from the Western Union Fraud Department told Fournier that Quesnel was the payee of $200. The representative told Fournier that Quesnel and another person had seven transactions from Nov. 24, 2010 to Nov 29, 2010. However, the $200 was the only transaction that went through.